I lived in upstate NY most of my life. Got my pistol permit when I was nineteen. That was in Rensselaer county, which is still one of the easier counties to get approved in I think. I've heard horror stories about Albany and Saratoga Counties. My original permit was marked " hunting and target only". After a couple years I applied for and received an "unrestricted" permit. I remember one of the ridiculous laws from that time was that I couldn't buy a handgun from an FFL dealer because I wasn't 21, but it was perfectly legal for me to buy from a private citizen. Doesn't get much more senseless than that. Anyway, I wish you the best of luck! As for myself, we moved to sunny Florida and never looked back.